Thoughts and observations about Modesto and Stanislaus County

A Salidan’s Comments to the Modesto Planning Commission

By Jim Bonetti

The people of Salida have had to fight to protect our land ans homes every time a current Modesto mayor takes a notion to annex us. We are aware of what you Chamber says of the mayors and councils. Every administration for the past 30 years has failed to do anything to improve business here because they did not know what to do or how to do it!

You did manage to steal some nice pieces of Salida for Kaiser Hospital, Costco, Lowes, and Save Mart….THROUGH EXTORTION! No Water without annexation! Mr. Mayor, you did play by LAFCO’s rules, you sent out notices to farmers within 300 feet of the property to be annexed. Not enough to get writers cramp, for sure. Most of Salida never knew what hit us! Salida shrank a little more that day to feed Modesto’s gluttonous appetite for more tax money to spend.

You say you’re doing it for JOBS, JOBS, JOB! That is crap and you know it. You don’t care about jobs, REAL, GOOD PAYING JOBS. You care about legacy, campaign donors, and what the people think of your progress and accomplishments! That’s what you care about. I’ve been hearing all about some 27,000 jobs you will create by developing all of that PRIME FARMLAND and ANNEXING SALIDA. There is little that can compete with the gross farm product from that land. You can’t develop ANYTHING that can compete with those farmers. THEY know what they’re doing! All of this speculation about commercial/industrial development in the greater “Beckwith Triangle”, which doesn’t much look like a triangle anymore, is your PIPE DREAM!

The jobs brought here will be lost somewhere else, but hey, why would companies want to move to Modesto anyway? Modesto according to statistics, is the 6th worst town to live in, and the 6th WORSE RUN city and they don’t want to move there because there are fewer educated people there to work in their businesses. I mentioned that fact at the “Transportation Workshop: meeting last year at city hall and was just ignored. They had an agenda to promote and couldn’t be bothered with statistics.

Now, you think it’s high time, Mr. Marsh and Council, to do something outstanding for the constituents so they think you’re doing Mayor’s job for once. You can pump up your tax base and developers can line their pockets!! Something to pull Modesto out of the hole. You’ll get a lot of tax money out of the people of Salida by annexing our town or cherry picking pieces of Salida because you think it’s the answer to what ails Modesto! You figure to cure Modesto’s problem on the backs of the good people of Salida. WHAT A DESPICABLE ACT OF OPPRESSION!! There is nothing you or your council can do or will do for Salida that we can’t do for ourselves with incorporation. Water or no water , the people of Salida will make it happen.

You have been told EVERY TIME we DON”T WANT TO BE ANNEXED!! WHAT PART DON”T YOU UNDERSTAND??!!